DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6641#0056
42 TELL EL YA:
work in the British Museum. No dedications to deities
are found in the inscriptions; I therefore suppose that this
royal hall was erected for some secular purpose, hut formed
perhaps an adjunct to the temple.
There are no brick walls remaining that can be attributed
to the temple enclosure or foundations.
The earliest account of the stone remains is given
by H. Brugsch.1 He enumerates the materials thus :
" Alabaster, pavement : granite, columns: limestone,
walls and pillars.' By the granite columns, no doubt, are
meant the column of Merenptah (eastward from the hall)
and the granite base of Rameses III. The limestone pillars
of the hall are now of course destroyed. The inscriptions
upon them contained the name of Barneses III., beloved of
the usual gods, and throw no light on the name of the
city. 1) ™ ? ^ iF© is indeed tempting ; but as there
is no mention of the local god of the Athribite nome, and
as from its situation Tell el Yahudiyeh must be outside
that nome, we can only translate "Amen ra bull of Egypt."
Many years ago the artist Bonomi, if we may credit a
story he told in his last days/ saw the limestone gateway
which led into the enclosure from the south at the moment
that it was uncovered by the Arabs, and read upon it the
cartouches of Barneses III. If the Sheikh's white house
at El Umrej were pulled to pieces, possibly a large part of
this gateway might be found there. At the entrance I saw
a stone with' some hieroglyphs upon it being worked into
shape by a mason.
Two fragments of limestone, loose in a house at Kafr esh
Shobak, bear the name and standard of Barneses III. : so also
a base-block 1 of red granite in the eastern part of the
enclosure. The inscription, almost effaced, is upon the sides.
Later, a large rectangular cavity has been made in it, pro-
bably to receive the pivot-socket of a door.
A scarab of white glazed pottery, PI. xi. 22, from the town,
is of Barneses III., and a pretty oval ornament of white glazed
ware with hieroglyphs in blue, 23,3 shows a portion of his
cartouche, It seems to imitate a date stone in form. The
scarabs 24 and 25, in steatite, are probably of this period.
No other precisely dateable remains of the XXth dynasty
were found in the town, and we will now turn to
The Cemetery in the Desert.—It seems that,
under.the XXth dynasty, the inhabitants enjoyed
a certain degree of prosperity which was equalled
again only in the Koman period. No longer
content with humble graves in the jezireh,
they chose a spot in the desert, within sight of
the city, where they could pile the loose basalt
blocks into tumuli of some pretensions.
1 Zeitschrift fiir Aegyptische Sprache, 1871, p. 87.
~ Eecorded by Hayter Lewis, I.e. p. 183.
3 Eigured also Hist. Sc., No. 1470.
To reach the new cemetery their path lay to
the nearest portion of the desert across the fields,
then passing over a narrow strip of soft rock
and a depression beyond of half-cultivable land,
they arrived at a place where loose rock
abounded. Here the bodies, enclosed in coffins
of painted earthenware, were laid on the surface
of a natural or artificial heap of basalt blocks
or on the sandy floor of the desert. Around
each coffin, which was protected by a simple arch
(the section showing four bricks), were placed a
certain number of utensils in pottery, bronze, &c,
and then the whole funeral apparatus was covered
over with stones and sand to the depth of about
two feet.
The coffins were numerous, lying parallel to
each other in rows. We found that the plunderers
in ancient times had been busy amongst them,
and all the coffins of adults had been opened and
pillaged. On the other hand, the graves of
children were intact—the thieves knew, well that
they contained no valuables. In one of these, two
pottery scarabs were found which bear the name
of Rameses III., and thus give most satisfactory
evidence for the precise date of the Tumuli. It
is doubtful whether the bodies were mummified.
The coffins with their bogus inscriptions do not
record a single name, but they must have con-
tained some trinkets to attract the thieves, and
in fact two scarabs, set in silver and gold, are
amongst the leavings. The name of Setnekht is
rudely inscribed upon one of the scarabs.
The antiquities found outside the coffins, partly
within the brick arch, partly arranged round the
grave, include vases, jugs and bottles of several
shapes, bronze bowls, bronze arrow-heads and
knife, and one flint tool. The children's graves
work in the British Museum. No dedications to deities
are found in the inscriptions; I therefore suppose that this
royal hall was erected for some secular purpose, hut formed
perhaps an adjunct to the temple.
There are no brick walls remaining that can be attributed
to the temple enclosure or foundations.
The earliest account of the stone remains is given
by H. Brugsch.1 He enumerates the materials thus :
" Alabaster, pavement : granite, columns: limestone,
walls and pillars.' By the granite columns, no doubt, are
meant the column of Merenptah (eastward from the hall)
and the granite base of Rameses III. The limestone pillars
of the hall are now of course destroyed. The inscriptions
upon them contained the name of Barneses III., beloved of
the usual gods, and throw no light on the name of the
city. 1) ™ ? ^ iF© is indeed tempting ; but as there
is no mention of the local god of the Athribite nome, and
as from its situation Tell el Yahudiyeh must be outside
that nome, we can only translate "Amen ra bull of Egypt."
Many years ago the artist Bonomi, if we may credit a
story he told in his last days/ saw the limestone gateway
which led into the enclosure from the south at the moment
that it was uncovered by the Arabs, and read upon it the
cartouches of Barneses III. If the Sheikh's white house
at El Umrej were pulled to pieces, possibly a large part of
this gateway might be found there. At the entrance I saw
a stone with' some hieroglyphs upon it being worked into
shape by a mason.
Two fragments of limestone, loose in a house at Kafr esh
Shobak, bear the name and standard of Barneses III. : so also
a base-block 1 of red granite in the eastern part of the
enclosure. The inscription, almost effaced, is upon the sides.
Later, a large rectangular cavity has been made in it, pro-
bably to receive the pivot-socket of a door.
A scarab of white glazed pottery, PI. xi. 22, from the town,
is of Barneses III., and a pretty oval ornament of white glazed
ware with hieroglyphs in blue, 23,3 shows a portion of his
cartouche, It seems to imitate a date stone in form. The
scarabs 24 and 25, in steatite, are probably of this period.
No other precisely dateable remains of the XXth dynasty
were found in the town, and we will now turn to
The Cemetery in the Desert.—It seems that,
under.the XXth dynasty, the inhabitants enjoyed
a certain degree of prosperity which was equalled
again only in the Koman period. No longer
content with humble graves in the jezireh,
they chose a spot in the desert, within sight of
the city, where they could pile the loose basalt
blocks into tumuli of some pretensions.
1 Zeitschrift fiir Aegyptische Sprache, 1871, p. 87.
~ Eecorded by Hayter Lewis, I.e. p. 183.
3 Eigured also Hist. Sc., No. 1470.
To reach the new cemetery their path lay to
the nearest portion of the desert across the fields,
then passing over a narrow strip of soft rock
and a depression beyond of half-cultivable land,
they arrived at a place where loose rock
abounded. Here the bodies, enclosed in coffins
of painted earthenware, were laid on the surface
of a natural or artificial heap of basalt blocks
or on the sandy floor of the desert. Around
each coffin, which was protected by a simple arch
(the section showing four bricks), were placed a
certain number of utensils in pottery, bronze, &c,
and then the whole funeral apparatus was covered
over with stones and sand to the depth of about
two feet.
The coffins were numerous, lying parallel to
each other in rows. We found that the plunderers
in ancient times had been busy amongst them,
and all the coffins of adults had been opened and
pillaged. On the other hand, the graves of
children were intact—the thieves knew, well that
they contained no valuables. In one of these, two
pottery scarabs were found which bear the name
of Rameses III., and thus give most satisfactory
evidence for the precise date of the Tumuli. It
is doubtful whether the bodies were mummified.
The coffins with their bogus inscriptions do not
record a single name, but they must have con-
tained some trinkets to attract the thieves, and
in fact two scarabs, set in silver and gold, are
amongst the leavings. The name of Setnekht is
rudely inscribed upon one of the scarabs.
The antiquities found outside the coffins, partly
within the brick arch, partly arranged round the
grave, include vases, jugs and bottles of several
shapes, bronze bowls, bronze arrow-heads and
knife, and one flint tool. The children's graves